Selling to Migrants?

Don’t underestimate the importance of foreign language translations to convince them of your offering

With 25% of Australia’s population born overseas, and more and more visitors – tourists and workers arriving, it has never been more important to ‘speak’ to them in their language/s. Your competitors surely are. Even if English is understood well, this growing group will likely read newspapers, websites and social media in their own language and participate in festivals and activities involving their community and language/s.

So there are lots of opportunities to speak directly to them: on radio, on TV, in printed media, at events and, importantly, on line.

For 20 years, Chin Translations has been assisting organisations to connect to growing numbers of migrants, in particular:

Universities, colleges and schools

Financial institutions

Retailers

Car sellers

Tourism operators

Governments from federal to local

Lawyers and courts

Restaurants

Real estate agents and property developers

In some of these sectors, translated materials have a big influence in attracting buyers.

On the other hand no translations or poorly translated content can have a severe negative impact. For example, the ‘lingering finish’ in that lovely shiraz sounds downright disgusting as a ‘brown veneer’ and the ‘mist stick curling iron’ in German became a manure dispenser.

Chinese Audience – a Perfect Channel

It is important when targeting Chinese migrants and visitors to consider social media – in particular Sina Weibo – which has a huge audience and wields great influence. Early adopters are benefitting from reaching this large market directly and if you are selling to Chinese, you must consider this channel. Chin Translations, through its parent, Chin Communications, has developed a unique social media offering for the Chinese market through the Sina Weibo platform. This is very effective in Australia, but needs to be set up and managed with great care. Contact our Weibo expert for a free consultation and reach out directly to your audience.

Chinese influence on property

At present, much of the property development in Australia, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, is driven by Asian investors. Chinese investors now account for 18% of new property purchases in Sydney and 14% of those in Melbourne according to the Sydney Morning Herald (04/03/2014). Developers are set on maximising land use, and transforming city and surrounding land into high-rise complexes and apartment buildings. “Of the $9.3 billion invested over the first quarter of 2014, almost $4 billion or 43 per cent came from offshore” according to the Sydney Morning Herald (14/07/2014).

The significant influx of international students, particularly Chinese students - now around 88,000 - enrolled in Australian universities (there are over 1 million students enrolled in Australian universities according to Universities Australia) has prompted a growth of inner city apartment development and purchases. According to a report in the Australian Financial Review (07/06/2014), not only has there been an increase in apartments owned by students, who buy about 15% of every inner city apartment development in Sydney, but accompanying this trend of educational related migration, further purchases have also been made by family joining their children close by.

In Melbourne, Glen Waverley now boasts a large Chinese community, where 22.4% of the population has Chinese ancestry and during a recent apartment complex sale, only 2 of the 116 apartments where purchased by Caucasians, according to a report published in The Age (12/08/2012). This transformation of purchasing is almost presumed now given that in 2011, 14% of the migration program was made up of Chinese immigrants.

Contact us for help to connect with audiences in Australia in their preferred language/s.